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Thursday, 3 December 2015

Review - 'The Flash', - S02E08 - 'Legends of Today'

While last year's big
cross-over event, essentially, boiled down to nothing more complicated than
a pair of loosely connected stories, it had still been fun to see the
cast of characters from each show interact with his other. This
year's cross-over event, though, seems to have set its sights a
little higher - telling a single story which spans both shows while,
at the same time, properly setting the scene for Legends of
Tomorrow when it begins early
next year, by introducing us to its villain.

Here,
the focus of the story is Kendra Saunders (Ciara Renee), who finds
herself targeted by Vandal Savage (Casper Crump) - an extremely
dangerous, and seemingly immortal, figure who has arrived in Central
City to kill her. Fortunately, though, Cisco happened to be with her
when Savage made his attack - and, Cisco was able to call Barry.
Following a brief struggle, Savage makes his escape, and Kendra is
safe, for the moment. Barry, somehow (honestly, given the brief
encounter, this isn't very clear), comes to the conclusion that
Vandal Savage's abilities are mystical in nature and, therefore, well
beyond his own experience - leading to the decision to take Kendra to
Star City for help. But, of course, Vandal Savage follows.

The
main problem with this episode, for me, is that its insistence on
trying to cover so much in such a short amount of time ultimately
works against it. It had seemed like such a simple set-up, on paper -
with Kendra, and the need to protect her from Vandal Savage, acting
as the catalyst to bring the two teams back together. But, as things
progressed, the episode just started to feel increasingly messy.

There
were plenty of genuinely entertaining elements to this episode,
though, to be fair.

We had the introduction of Vandal
Savage, which was entertaining - he may not be the most overtly
intimidating villain that either series has had, but he is played
with a casual confidence by Casper Crump. We, also, have the
developing relationship between Cisco and Kendra - which is cute,
though obviously set to end badly for Cisco. Then, there's the
introduction of 'Hawkman', Carter Hall (Falk Hentschel), and Kendra's
discovery of her own abilities - a development which adds even more
outlandish comic-book elements to the CW's take on the DC Universe,
as we move further and further away from the 'grounded realism' of
the first season of Arrow.
Also, we have those moments devoted to simply allowing the cast of
both shows to talk. And, to top it all off, we have the simply joy of
watching the Flash and the Green Arrow working together - against
Carter Hall, following a classic misunderstanding (though, I'm not
entirely sure what he thought was going to happen when he swooped in
and carried Kendra off), then against Vandal Savage, himself.

But,
then, there were also those elements which only served to make the
episode seem overly convoluted.

There
was the, completely unnecessary, appearance from Damian Darhk, for
one thing. Honestly, I enjoy Neal McDonough's performance as
Damian Darhk as much as anyone - but, if he wasn't going to have a
part to play in this story, then he didn't need to be there. Whatever
he has planned for that bomb he was trying to steals could have
waited for an episode of Arrow.

Similarly, the sub-plot concerning
Caitlin and Earth-2 Wells's efforts to develop a drug that could
temporarily increase Barry's speed started to feel increasingly out
of place as the episode progressed. Unlike with Darhk's appearance,
though, it did at least make sense to move this plot forward (this
was technically an episode of
The Flash, after all).
But, it simply took up too much screen-time. It was also further
complicated by the fact that Jay Garrick chose this moment to make a
sudden return. Then, to top it off, Patty Spivot also managed to get
herself involved.

Neither
of these elements would have been so bad, were it not for the fact
that the primary plot of this episode suffered due to the split
focus. There were so many elements, here, that just felt rushed.
Carter Hall didn't receive anywhere near enough screen-time to
establish himself, considering the character's importance in the
future. And, Kendra's eventual transformation into 'Hawkgirl' lacked
the drama and excitement that it should have had.

If
that wasn't enough, there was also Malcolm Merlyn's sudden return to
Star City. Malcolm, we are expected to believe, managed to arrive all
the way from Nanda Parbat at exactly the right moment to deliver
important exposition about Vandal Savage. This is especially
ridiculous when you consider that this was clearly the only reason he
made the trip, in the first place.

In
all, this first part of the cross-over event seemed to be much too
concerned with making sure all the bases were covered - with the end
result being an episode that often felt unfocused. Honestly, it felt
as though taking the proper time to establish the complex mythology
of 'Hawkman' and 'Hawkgirl', and the part that Vandal Savage plays,
should have taken up the bulk of the episode. But, instead, the time
spent moving the seasonal arcs of each show forward forced them to
cut corners.

So,
this first part of the cross-over event as a bit of a disappointment.
I will just have to hope that the next part will be more focused.